An Incredible Belief
by Flipping Seltzer
Summary: Henry wishes on a star and Storybrook's children start to remember. Grace just wants her father back, but Jefferson's nowhere to be found. What can children do against a curse that's stolen them from the parents they remember? AU. Chapter 6 now up!
1. Chapter 1

AN: So this is something I got to writing after the finale (Which was amazing!). I just think that Henry's situation sucks, being the only kid to ever grow up and not being able to connect to anyone. Children are usually the ones who have the most capacity to believe in the unbelievable and have the greatest capacity to love and belief and love are huge themes in the show. Even if Regina never allowed any storybooks in Storybrook, some have to have been shipped in from Boston or something like that—so children have to be aware of fairy tales and magic.

Really I wrote this because I wanted the children in the story to have a little more power, as they are traditionally important in fairy tales, and I like the idea of the children saving their families by waking their parents up and believing (Henry and Emma, Emma and the Charmings).

Anyway, it starts a little after the Stable Boy, so Mary Margaret is out of jail but not with David and Emma is thinking about leaving as she's feeling confused but hasn't been pressured by August yet. Jefferson is alive but MIA. This will follow cannon as much as is possible regarding character backstories.

Prologue

"I wish… I wish everyone would remember." Henry Mills closed his eyes, wishing with all his heart as the full moon shone down. "I wish we were all in the fairy tale." Whispering in the darkened room, he wished, knowing in his heart that it didn't matter.

It didn't matter how much he wished. It didn't matter that he was wishing exactly right.

Wishes didn't come true, not in Storybrook. Because wishes only work if there's magic in the world.

And there was no magic. Because no one believed.

But still Henry wished. What else could he do? "I wish someone would remember."

- ONCE… -

Across town Paige Bennett sat up in bed, her small chest heaving. The stars on her ceiling glowed and at her feet, the book she'd been reading snapped open, pages flipping as a strong breeze from the window whipped around the room. She ran a hand through her blond hair, unsure after her startling dream. Glancing round the room, she was comforted by the familiar corners and finger-paintings, her things scattered as they always had been.

This room was what she had always known. Where she always slept and played and dreamed.

But… for the first time in her young life, Paige… felt… something.

At the foot of her bed, the pages rattled again and she reached down, silently apologizing to the books pages, which were creased from her comforter. She smoothed them out, loving the storybook as she always had—it was her favorite.

Alice in Wonderland.

She'd always wanted to live in a world of magic and fantastic things, just like Alice and the Hatter. She'd drink raspberry tea every day and never do homework. From the pages the Mad Hatter smiled up at her, cracked tea cup halfway to his lips, the dormouse hanging for dear life from the lip. She ran a finger over the illustration. Something…

Paige looked up at the stars, a memory tickling behind her eyes. For a moment, the stars shone with an unnatural light, their faint glow in the dark paint sparkling with magic. When she looked down once more Paige fisted the illustration in her hand, tearing the page from the book. Miss Blanchard would be upset.

But Grace didn't care. She had a tea party to get to.

Chapter 1

Henry was surprised when Paige was late to school. The little blond was always early, her white rabbit card snapping against her back tire as she sped past the front steps to the bike rack. The popular 4th grader would stand on the steps with her friends, discussing things Henry was never included in.

The dark haired boy resented the other children, who played and socialized, perpetual friends in their never ending loop of life. Henry had to let go of every classmate he made friends with, aging and graduating from year to year as the others remained. Paige had always been in Miss Blanchard's class, had always sat in the front of the class and been one of the three children who fed the class pet, a hamster who never died—not even as Henry aged from 5 to 10.

Timeless.

He gripped the book tighter, finding comfort in its familiar spine. Emma had given it back not long ago and it made him feel better to know it was close.

Miss Blanchard stood in the front, trying to ignore the class's interested gaze. Henry knew from breakfast with Emma that Mary Margaret was nervous, unsure of herself since she'd come home. That made him even sadder—Snow White would never have been nervous. Paige slipped in just as their teacher started to begin, and even as she entered, Henry could tell something was wrong.

Her normal school uniform of blue jeans and a pink collared shirt had been exchanged for a brown jumper, white long sleeved shirt below it. Hair that was usually tamed by a headband or twin braids was tied back with a robin blue ribbon. Paige looked unsure as she stood at the front, staring at the class like she'd never been there before. "Paige? Are you alright?"

Henry's classmate glanced at her and seemed to bob up and down in a confusing motion until before answering. "Yes y- Miss Blanchard. I just…my seat..." Her expression looked strained as she looked over the three possible open seats.

"The first row Paige." Miss Blanchard informed her kindly, gently pushing her that way. Once Paige was seated their teacher knelt beside her. "Are you sure you're alright dear?"

"Yes. I just…" Henry could see Paige shrug and tug at her new clothes from his seat near the window, "forgot." Miss Blanchard looked at the girl strangely but started the lesson, something Henry had gone over in his workbook already at the mayor's insistence. Instead of paying attention he watched Paige.

He did this a lot, watch.

Since he couldn't really be friends with the other children he liked to watch them, figure out who they could be. But he'd never put in a great deal of time watching Paige. She seemed so normal… plus, he already knew she was Alice. Who else could she be, with her White Rabbit card and blond hair? And he'd noticed, she always knew the time—not the real time, but Storybrook time. Paige Bennett never wore a watch but she could tell you the minute and second of every hour. Yes, he'd figured her out almost as soon as he'd gotten the book. "Alice." He whispered to himself.

Almost as soon as he spoke Paige's head whipped around, her brown eyes pinning him. "Paige, eyes front please." Miss Blanchard redirected her attention but Henry was frozen in his seat. She'd heard him.

He remembered his wish last night. He needed someone to believe.

Someone to remember.

Henry crossed his fingers under his desk and tried to keep the grin from his face. It looked like one of his wishes finally came true.


	2. Chapter 2

I disclaim. Also I know that Grace isn't Alice, you know that Grace isn't Alice, but Henry doesn't. She was one of the first characters he spotted and so he assumed without really reading her story. This idea will be corrected.

Chapter 2

Fairy Tale World, Leopold's Kingdom, Jefferson's House in the City

At 5 years old, Grace was very small. She was small enough to fit in her father's arms, in the hollow of a tree, or even inside the large cabinet her mother used to store food. Today it stood full, too stuffed with food for even a small girl to slip into and so Grace had been forced to find a new spot to hide. In the habit of most children, who were tiny enough to fit in odd spaces, she liked to hide.

That's what she was doing now, hiding, and it was her best spot yet. When her parents arrived home from the market they would look and look, but she was sure they'd never find her. Their neighbor, Matilda, had gone home to check on her pies, but their homes were close enough that the older woman would be able to watch the house and small yard from her kitchen window.

The door slammed open and Grace almost jumped, but her good senses smelled her father's coat and heard her mother's heels. "Don't do this Alice." She heard her father's low tones, his voice strained. The little girl didn't know what the couple had been doing at the marker, they had food enough for a week at least, but they sounded angry.

Lately they were angry more than happy.

"Don't do what Jefferson? Live my life? Have an adventure?" Her mother's lyrical tones seemed wrong, too high and low and…wrong.

"This is life! We have a family, a house—this is a life!" Something study and soft fell to the floor—her father's hat.

Something slammed. "This isn't real Jefferson. This isn't…" There was a soft noise. "This can't be real. I… I need to go."

"Go where? I can take you anywhere! Anywhere you desire! We can go to the moon, or a world made of orange trees and a fire sky. I can bring you anything, take you anywhere!" Grace was getting cramped. This spot seemed too small now, smaller than she'd thought when she first crawled in. "Look at this house, your dress. What more could you want?"

It was quiet for a moment. She was getting impatient—why weren't they looking yet? "Take me to Wonderland?"

"No. No Alice—we can't, we can't go back… there… again."

"Why not!" Her mother's voice was still different, childish and wrong sounding.

"Alice!"

A sigh. "I… I know. I know why we can't but I… I don't know. It's as if, something wants me to go. I can't… I can't sleep. I can't think. All I imagine is Wonderland and I…"

They were closer now. Maybe this was part of the game? Maybe they were looking?

"Shh. We'll figure this out. We'll solve this riddle just as we solved the rest—together we'll pass the test."

"That was awful." She sounded better now, her soft voice kind and steady once more.

"But it made you smile."

"It did." They were right beside her now, outside the cupboard. She wiggled farther back into her spot, freezing as she knocked a cup against her leg. "Did you hear that?"

A rustle of clothing. "It sounded like a rat. A big, fat," the door quickly opened, and her father's grinning face flashed white in the sudden light, "Gracie rat!" He pulled her out, uncaring and unconcerned for their cutlery, spinning her in place so fast she didn't know where the floor was and she felt sick. Then her mother scooped her away and held her tight, pulling her blue shawl over her eyes until the world wasn't spinning, whispering soft words of love into the fabric and her daughter's ear. Her father brought her cool water and promised to find her when she was feeling better. The world was good and right and her parents would always find her.

And then four days past. And then her mother disappeared.

And things weren't good for a long time.

Storybrook, Maine

Things were not good.

Grace sat on the swings by herself, abandoned by friends she half remembered. The children played tag, rushing across the playground in a fierce battle. She didn't understand them; but she'd known them forever.

She crossed her arms, trying not to itch at the unfamiliar clothing. She missed her dress and her cloak, her firm boots and good stockings. The clothing that Mrs. Lily laid out this morning had been… wrong. Mrs. Lily (her mother, a part of her brain cried) had been confused, but agreed to Grace's choice, which was as close to her normal outfit as she could find. What was happening? She remembered and yet…

Mr. and Mrs. Lily had been watching her, while her father left, but then he hadn't come back. Not for a day, and then a week, and the month, and then a year. Then one more. And then… then the darkness had come, swallowing up the cabin and the Lily's and then her. Then she was here, in this place, the Lily's as her parents, never changing, never growing. Never looking.

What if her father had come back? Come back to the cabin to find no one, no daughter waiting? Was he looking for her? Could he even find her in this strange place?

The Queen. It had been the Queen—the dark lady in the carriage who'd taken her father and never returned him. In her ten year old heart, riddled with forty years of memories, she hated the evil woman who'd… done this.

Whatever this was.


	3. Chapter 3

I disclaim.

AN: In this chapter there's going to be some Henry/Paige dialogue. In it Paige is going to be pretty down on Storybrook, but remember, she has two sets of memories in her head and her fairy tale slide is slowly taking over. She's upset because she doesn't know where her dad is and she's remembering the last 28 years of life trapped in this world. So basically, she's an almost 40 year old woman stuck in a 10 year olds body- you'd be upset too. Also keep in mind that her dad left her alone for what was probably 1-2 years and she's not thrilled about that either. I'm trying to go off what Jefferson said in 1x21 about remembering being worse than just forgetting. It's like the worst split personality syndrome ever.

Also, it's dead hard trying to write for kids so don't be too upset if their thoughts are a little too mature- let's pretend everyone in Storybrook is amazing at logic and reasoning. :)

Chapter 3

After school, Henry followed Paige. Normally he'd go to the sheriff's office and talk to Emma, but he knew, felt, that he needed to follow his classmate. To see what she was doing walking into the woods outside of town. They'd left the school and headed away from Paige's regular route, and at first he'd thought she was just confused again, as she'd seemed to be all day.

First she didn't understand the pencil sharpener, then she'd accidentally called William Tart blue, which would have made sense of the kid hadn't been wearing green all day. She'd called things and people strange names, names that matched his storybook, and gotten frustrated when she was corrected. The trash wasn't the waste bin, Sally Pinfort wasn't Bo.

Yes, Henry was almost one hundred percent certain that Paige Bennett remember being a fairy tale character and he was going to get her to admit it. And then he was going to have her tell Emma.

Henry stumbled, unfamiliar with the woods and hampered by his flat sneakers, which were meant for concrete, not root lined forest paths. He looked up and was disappointed when he couldn't see Paige's blond hair, or her little pink backpack, which she'd also looked at with disgust. "Shoot." He muttered, and swung around to head home only to come face to face with a large tree branch.

"Why are you following me?" Paige stood there, backpack gone, wielding the branch like it was a bat in gym class.

"I...I-"

"Henry Mills right? You're the Queen's son?" Paige questioned him, branch moving closer to his face.

Henry tried not to panic and hyperventilate. Emma would never hyperventilate. "Adopted." He squeaked out. "Wait... queen's? You- you remember!" He moved forward but stopped as the branch touched his nose. "I... I'm on your side! Operation Cobra! I hate the Queen too!"

Paige looked unsure for a moment and then dropped the branch with a _whoosh_. She shook her hands out, frowning. "That was heavy." She glared at him. "But don't think I won't use it!" The small girl threatened. She wandered away a little, where she retrieved her bag. "Why do you hate the Queen- doesn't she give you everything you want?" She looked thoughtful.

"As if." Henry huffed out. "And she doesn't...I'm not sure she loves me. Not really."

Paige looked at him with pity. "That's sad. But I suppose, if she really doesn't love you- you might hate her."

"I do!"

"Wait a second." Something seemed to din on his companion and she whirled on him. "You remember! No one else seems to! Not Blue or Bo or even Queen Snow."

"It's the curse- they can't remember who they really are. Do you... do you remember how it felt?"

Paige flicked her hair around her head. "Yes. It's like... I remember being me, but I also remember being Paige- I remember being her forever! For years and years and... I didn't realize it but time was... still."

"Frozen!"

"Exactly!" The blond agreed. She studied him for a moment then extended her hand. "I'm Grace- I don't think we ever met, you know, home."

Henry shook her hand, confused. "Grace? But... but I thought you were Alice- from Wonderland!"

She looked at him like he was stupid. He felt stupid, unsure; if he hadn't gotten one of the easiest ones right... "Of course I'm not Alice- Alice is my mother. Alice is a grown up-everyone knows that! I'm Grace. And I'm definitely not from Wonderland; what an awful place- don't you know everyone from Wonderland is crazy."

"No." Henry shook his head. "I didn't- I'm sorry."

"It's alright." She narrowed her eyes at him. "Just don't do it again." And then she headed further into the forest, leaving Henry to trail after her awkwardly.

"Where are we going?" Henry asked, slipping on some moss.

Paige- no Grace- seemed to float over ever piece of debris as if she walked through the forest every day. "To look for something. Who are you, by the way? You knew said."

"Yes I did- Henry Mills. You've know me all year."

"No, no." Grace corrected him. "Your real name."

Henry tried to feel too frustrated. "That is my real name! Henry!"

Grace stopped and looked at him, confused. "But... why did everyone else's name change but yours? I've noticed that- that everyone's name is different."

Henry stopped, feeling shy, and kicked at the dirt. "I'm not- not from your world. I'm Emma's son- the sheriff, you know." He puffed up, proud of his mother. "She's Snow White and Prince Charming's daughter- she's going to save us all." Grace's eyes went wide and she seemed to size him up. Then she did the odd bobbing thing she'd done to Miss Blanchard earlier, as she did it, he realized it was a bow. "No, no. Don't do that."

Grace kept her eyes on the dirt. "I am sorry, your highness for threatening you- if I had known..."

"It's, it's okay." He reached out and took her hand, shaking it. "I've never had a friend before... Maybe you could just do that? Instead the whole... bowing thing."

She looked at him oddly. "All right then." She turned back to the rough path and he followed again, asking this and that about the fairy tale world.

"So you're Alice in Wonderland's daughter."

"She actually didn't spend that much time there you know. My father saved her- they live in the regular world- regular fairy world that is." She paused. "Or at least, I think they do. I haven't seen either of them in some time. They disappeared you see." Despite her carefree tone he could tell that she was upset.

Henry thought for a moment. "Who is your father? I don't remember Alice ever falling in love in the book?"

Grace had stopped under a large maple tree. She rolled her eyes at him. "Well I don't think you were reading the right book then. Of course Alice fell in love- my father saved her from the Red Queens guards and escaped through his hat."

"Through his hat!"

"Of course! How else do you escape Wonderland? You can't just walk up the door you know? Not without a little magic- and what better place to keep it, than in a hat?"

The young boy plopped down right where he'd been standing. "A hat. Your father is the Mad Hatter!"

"My father is not Mad!" She snapped down at him. "You take that back! He's not Mad- he's just Missing!"

"I... I'm sorry. It's just... the story."

"The story is wrong, obviously! Everything is all wrong." He could just make out her last statement, which she'd muttered into her backpack, which she was rooting through for something. She apparently couldn't find it because she dumped the whole thing on the ground and dropped it. "Stupid satchel! Stupid pink, ugly thing that you can't find anything in! Stupid clothes and stupid shoes and... and I hate it here! I miss my basket and my cabin and my father and I... I," She stomped her foot. "I want to go home! I can't- I know I'm Grace but I think like Paige one minute and the Evil Queen is the mayor and Queen Snow is my teacher and-" She started to cry, sinking down next to Henry, who tentatively reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. "And I want my father."

They sat like that, for what felt like forever, until she sat up and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Are you alright?" He asked quietly.

"No. But I will be." She grabbed a cafeteria knife out of the rubble from her bag and walked over to the tree. She began to carve something into the trunk, the pewter of the knife slowly denting the sting bark. "Because I'm going to find my parents. And then I'm going home."

Once...

Allison Moss sat up from her couch, pushing her rabbit from its seat on her lap. It was white. The couch was black and so was the rug. Her walls were blood red. Everything was pristine and perfect, untouched by children and dust. She adjusted her black pencil skirt and checked that her red dress shirt was unwrinkled.

Perfect.

Always perfect. Always alone.

Except for the white rabbit.

Allison looked around her perfect apartment. She checked her email, checked her messages- nothing. Nothing from the travel agency where she worked, nothing from her sister. She walked through the apartment once more.

There was something wrong. She could feel it.

She looked outside; a blue ribbon blew from a branch of a tree. Allison stared at the ribbon- something was wrong.

She just couldn't remember what.


	4. Chapter 4

AN: I realized the other day when I was rewatching that the kids wear uniforms to school—I didn't catch this when I was writing chapter 2 and I apologize, but I'm not going to rewite it because a change in outfits helped Henry figure out that Paige was remembering. So for this story, let's pretend they don't wear uniforms.

Thanks for the reviews guys! I really appreciate it.

Chapter 4

Henry was on cloud nine as he slowly plodded home from the woods. Someone remembered! Granted, it wasn't Emma or Ms. Blanchard or an, you know, adult, but someone believed him! He had a friend!

As he walked, he kept an eye out for anyone who looked like Grace's parents. She had described them and pointed them out in his book, which had fascinated her to no end. In fact he was almost certain it was the book that made her feel a little better about the whole situation. "Hello Henry." August waved from the bench he was lounging on, his causal posture a little stiffer than usual. He winced as he stood, flexing his hand in his leather gloves.

"August! Are you alright? You don't look so good." Henry asked, concerned.

The older man brushed aside his concern with a smirk. "I'm fine. Fine as I can be anyway." The two walked side by side, August's slow pace allowing Henry to keep up. "How goes Operation Cobra?"

Henry hesitated, unsure if he should mention his discovery. But August was the only adult who believed him, believed in him, and Henry decided to risk it. "Great! Someone remembered!"

The motorcyclist stopped on a dime and whirled to face Henry, dropping painfully to one knee in front of him. "Who woke up? Henry, who was it?"

"Paige—a girl in my class; although her real name is Grace."

"Grace… ,"August thought for a moment, standing as abruptly as he knelt. "Grace the… Jefferson's daughter Grace? The Hatter's Grace?" August had an unusual look in his eye.

"Yes!" Henry bubbled excitedly. "You know her?

"Let's just say someone told me a story once. If Grace is here, then Jefferson probably is too… The Queen would never leave him behind—not a realm jumper."

Henry smiled. "That's what Grace said! We're looking for him—Alice too. Did you know that Alice and Hatter fell in love? I didn't, that definitely wasn't in the regular story."

August grinned down at Henry. "I did know that, but I'll tell you something buddy." He leaned down closer, "not everything is in those books. Half the magic is in the discovering." And with that, the man drifted away, disappearing down an alley behind Granny's, leaving the boy gapping at his back. "Hey kid," the writer called over his shoulder, "I'd check out the pharmacy, if I were you. If I were Alice, I'd be somewhere I could get my hands on some potions. You never know when you need to fit through a keyhole!"

"Why are you helping me?" Henry yelled at August's wake, slightly confused as to why the man was helping him, but he received no answer. As usual. Henry stared at his disappearing shadow, half smile on his face. "The pharmacy." He whispered, silently thanking the strange man who seemed to believe me.

Once…

Fairy Tale World, King Leopold's Winter Castle

"Why are you doing this?" Alice slammed her hands against the door of her prison, frustration making her voice loud and shrill. "Let me out! Let! Me! Out!" She screamed at the ceiling, stopping only when the door swung open and Regina stepped inside, her false smile twisting into a sneer.

The witch flicked her fingers and the blond was thrown into the table behind her, rattling the potions and bottles that littered it. "Would you please shut up? I'm attempting to be covert—that's hard when you insist on screaming." The queen sarcastically put a finger to her lips. "Shh."

Alice had no patience for her captor's games. "Why do this? Let me go home. I'll make you whatever you want, just let me see Jefferson and Grace."

"Oh I'm afraid that isn't possible. I have plans you see, and if you fail, well then, I'm going to need dear Jefferson. And that plan isn't really going to work out unless he thinks you're dead." Regina pushed Alice against the desk and trailed a finger over her cheek. "Did you really think I put all that work into enchanting you to come here on your own only to let you go again? For weeks, I convinced you that you were going crazy; I crafted tales of Wonderland in your head until you convinced yourself they were real. If I was going to let you go I would have just kidnapped you from your little shop. Really, Alice, I thought you were smarter than this." She slapped the younger woman's cheek lightly and then moved away, circling the table.

"What are you going to do to him?" Alice asked lowly, bottling her anger at playing into the Queen's hands.

"If you fail? Well then I'm afraid Jefferson is going to need to take me to Wonderland, I need to pick someone up you see-"

"The hat doesn't work like that—you can't just…you can't take more than you bring…" Alice stopped midsentence as she watched a smirk come over the other woman's face. "But you know that, don't you?"

The queen peered into a beaker and frowned as she spied some dirt. "Of course. And it will be sad, leaving dear little Grace parentless, but well, sometimes sacrifices need to be made."

Alice's face paled. "He won't help you. He promised me, he promised me if anything ever happened he would stop using the hat, he'd stay with Grace."

"People will always disappoint you," Regina leaned in. "Always. Can you be absolutely sure he won't cheat, especially if he has a little, motivation?" She smirked and Alice shuddered.

"I don't care what you want; I'll make you whatever potion you need. But you stay away from my family." Alice turned to the table and rolled a bottle in her palms. "I'll need an open flame."

The queen walked back towards the door, her face already rearranging into the false contentment she'd perfected over the years. "That can be arranged. Oh, and don't bother trying to escape—I've told the guards you're a deranged maniac, waiting to be banished—they'll kill you on site. So you don't attack my dear husband, of course." She turned to face Alice, her mask firmly in place. "Oh, I never told you what I need." She clapped her hands, "how silly of me. I need you to make me a few little potions. One that will get me to Wonderland and one that will get me out. And whatever else you feel might need—this is a rescue operation—I need to be prepared."

The blond gaped at her. "That's impossible. You can't-"

"You did." The Queen's smile was still eerily in place. "You fell into that world using your little tricks potions mistress, and you did that with no magic at all. I'm offering you all the magic in this world, anything you need, but you will do this for me. Or I will destroy everything that's important to you. And I will make you watch." With that she whipped out of the room, train swirling behind her.

In the center of the room Alice Lidell fell to her knees in shock. The bottle rolled from her hands and lolled along the floor. Only a lucky bounce kept it from shattering.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible

things before breakfast." Lewis Carroll

Our World, Penmorfa, North Wales, 1870

"Alice come and play. I can barely stand Lorina's poor service." Edith Liddell cried to her older sibling from the court, wickedly hitting a tennis ball far out of the reach of their oldest sister Lorina.

"Edith!" Lorina frowned her disapproval but walked slowly over to ball, her white dress already yellowing with sun and sweat. The three girls were alone on the court, the elder and younger playing while the middle lounged in the shaded spectator box reading.

Edith wandered over, swinging her wood racket gaily. She was generally considered the most beautiful of the three and, going off of this morning's poor performance, was the most athletic. "What are you reading darling?" Lately Edith had taken to calling everyone 'darling' because she thought it made her sound glamorous. Personally, Alice thought the young woman only did it to sound worldlier in front of Prince Leopold, who'd recently taken an interest in the slender brunette. Alice covered for them while they had their little meetings, but lately she'd gotten tired of all the secrecy and was glad that soon the three sisters would leave for their grand tour. Nothing could come of any of it, and she had no desire to watch another sister weep over a failed obsession.

Bad enough Ina had driven away Dodgson. Although, Alice blushed and turned a page, that hadn't been the only reason the older storyteller had left Christ Church. "Alice?" Edith asked again.

"Simply stories." Alice shut the book, _Alice's Adventures Under Ground_, embarrassed to be caught by her younger sister reading such childish tales.

"Alice again?" Edith frowned. "You know that mother disapproves of those wild things—she doesn't like nonsense."

Alice stood, laying the book carefully on her chair before picking up her racket. "Mother doesn't approve a great many things." Including me, she thought silently. "Come along. I'll pay doubles with Ina—then you'll have the pleasure of beating both of us." She walked away from the book, ignoring the slight pull she felt as she left.

Storybrook, Present

Henry hesitantly pushed his way into the town pharmacy. It was Saturday, only two days since Paige-Grace revealed that she remembered, and he planned to meet her later at his castle, which she had found extremely amusing. He hadn't told her of his plan to infiltrate the pharmacy and look for her mother, concerned that she'd be too disappointed if it wasn't her.

There was no one behind the counter and he carefully made his way over to a candy rack a few feet away from the register. What if August was wrong? He glanced around the darkly lit store. The shelves were filled with bottles and boxes of things he'd never heard of, despite his above average reading level, and it smelled like old plants and books. This was a place for grown-ups, a place he'd always been forbidden to enter. Henry shivered excitedly. This was as magical a place as he'd ever been in Storybrook and he could feel it- could feel that August hadn't been humoring him. Someone would be here... if not Alice then someone. "Are you going to eat the candy or stare at it?" A smooth voice startled Henry and he almost dropped the book, clutched in his arms for a visual quick check.

Emma said it was important to have visual confirmation.

He spun around, coming face to face with a tall blond woman in heels that were almost as tall as the Evil Queens. In white and red she looked more like a heart from Wonderland, but her hair was right, and so Henry wasn't deterred. "Child?" The woman questioned again and Henry almost fell over his feet answering.

"Buying. I'm going to buy it. I just wasn't sure..." He faced the candy again, a little surprised to find that he really wasn't sure. All his normal favorites were gone. Instead there were strange options in dark wrappers. "They're all different."

The woman kneeled despite her high shoes, stockinged knees banging lightly on the wood beside his sneakers. "That's because these aren't normal candy bars. They're from my home." Now that he was calming down he realized she had an accent, and English one like characters from Doctor Who.

"You're English!" He'd never met someone with an accent in Storybrook- it semmed as though the whole town was from New England.

"Welsh, actually." She ran a finger lovingly over something called a Ripple. "This one is my favorite, but maybe you'd like this better." She pulled a Cadbury Dairy Bar from a lower shelf. "You know those little eggs you get at Easter? The sweet chocolate- that's a Cadbury." He took the bar reverently, examining her out of the corner of his eye. She stood, dusting off her knees and glancing around the shop. "They were always my favorite when I was young..." She trailed off, sounding slightly confused, just like everyone else did when they talked about the past.

Seeming to forget what she was talking about she walked back to the counter, lifting a dark piece of wood to slip behind it. "Cool." Henry murmured.

"I like to think so." The possible-Alice, smirked. "Everyone in this town is so settled in their modern ways. I like things a bit more old fashioned." She rubbed a hand lovingly on the dark wood. "Not sure why." She looked at him happily. "I'm glad you stopped in. I don't get many children in here." Her took on a sad look. "No children at all really. They prefer the QuickShop." She pursued her lips. "It's probably for the best- no mess to clean up. I do hate a proper mess."

Henry felt kind of bad for her, stuck in this old place with no children, her own child forgotten and living right down the hill. "I'm Henry." He offered, grinning softly.

She smiled back, the saddness fading. "Allison. A pleasure to make your acquaintance Henry." Turning her back to check something on a high shelf, she turned her back on the boy and Henry took to opportunity to open to the bookmarked page. From it, a happy Alice smiled out, a baby Grace in her hands. In the book she wore blue, but there was no mistaking the tall woman in front of him. This was Alice. The hand reaching for a dark bottle had the same half moon beauty mark as the hand that held Grace. He snapped the book shut and smiled as she turned back around. Allison was Alice.

It took all his willpower not to bolt from the store to find Grace. "All prepared then Henry?"

What? Did she know? How could she know? "What?"

"Prepared to settle up?" She frowned a bit. "Pay for your bar?"

"Oh. Yes." She talked strange. Like Mr. Gold or his mother when she was angry; old-fashioned, phrasing things a certain way. He handed her a dollar, watching anxiously as she rand it into her old register. It ever rang when it opened.

She handed him a nickel very seriously. "Thank you for your business Mr. Henry. Do come back and see me." Henry giggled at her act and she grinned, the first time he'd seen an actual full expression on her.

"I will. I'll come back." He headed quickly for the door. "And I'll bring a friend with me!" He sprinted for his bike, the grin on his face comically large. Alice!

Inside, Allison watched with a smile as the boy raced away. "What an odd child." She muttered, reaching below the counter for her ledger book.

"Who's that, Ms. Moss?"

She stifled a shriek, righting herself almost too quickly. "Mr. Gold. What a surprise." Unconsciously, she ran a hand over the front of her outfit, a nervous habit she'd developed as a child. "I'll just go and retrieve your tonic." Mr. Gold caught her arm and she stiffened, looking at him sharply.

He was examining her carefully, almost as if he'd never seen her before. "Was that Henry Mills in here? The mayor's son?"

"I... I'm not sure. His name was Henry, but we didn't discuss the particulars."

"I see." The rich man seemed to be looking for something, but couldn't find it in her eyes.

Allison glanced down. Her arm was starting to hurt; Mr. Gold's knuckles were white. "Mr. Gold- my arm."

The mysterious landlord immediately released her. "Yes. I apologize. I'm just concerned for the boy. He's normally not so far North of the main square." The pharmacist didn't answer, instead rushing behind a dark red curtain to her storeroom. Once there she took a moment, leaning against the shelves and catching her breath. She had no love for Mr. Gold, finding him oddly menacing on the best of days. After a few seconds she carefully placed a bottle of crushed herbs in a snug box then reentered the main store. She gave it to her customer to inspect, who smiled thinly. "As always, exactly what I need. Well done Ms. Moss."

She tried not to stutter as she rang him up. "I added a little something extra to help with arthritis- it'll be getting cold soon. Best to take precautions. As always brew it for a few moments at a rolling boil and then allow it to simmer. Fifteen minutes should be enough."

"And as always I bow to your knowledge. You are quite talented at...your potions." She looked up at the odd wording but he was already gone, out the door as strangely silent as he'd entered.

She shivered, pulling her sleeve up for a better look. As she suspected a ring was already forming, coloring her pale skin with darkness.

AN: It's Alice! As if we all already didn't know. :) I didn't want a great deal of suspense there, because the challenge won't be finding her, it'll be getting her to remember. Also, Alice is effected a bit differently by the spell as we can see. Because she was from our world to begin with, she has a lot going on inside her head fighting for dominance (this will come off as the craziness we love in Wonderland character). Like Henry noticed, she's a bit more magical because she discovered magic in this world, so she didn't forget it all when she was brought here again. She's also a little different not because she remembers, but because she's from our past. Under the identities of Storybrook and Fairytale World she's an 19th century woman, so even in Storybrook, where they all seeming to be in an early 90s phase she's old fashioned.

Did you like this version of Alice? I'm going to use flashbacks to show how she fell into Wonderland as we go on.


	6. Chapter 6

AN: Sorry it's been forever!

"I found her!" Henry gasped out. "I found your mother, Alice!" He'd run all the way to the forest, where Grace was waiting impatiently, her little feet digging a small trench with her pacing.

The blond girl almost tackled the prince in her excitement. "You did! Where is she- let's go now! It's been so long-" She was practically bouncing.

Henry caught her sleeve, already feeling guilty. "No. No, that's why you can't. She may not remember you- and if we try and get her to remember you and she doesn't... she'll think we're crazy. And then everything'll be ruined. No I think we need to find your father first- she knows what he looks like. If we can her to remember him we'll have a better chance." Grace yanked herself away from him, a sob building in her chest.

"My mother." She breathed. "Mother, I need help."

...Once Upon a Time...

Our World, Marseilles, France, 1872

"Mother!" Alice cried sitting up, breathing deeply, head spinning with images of magic potions and men with top hats. She sighed, pulling her linen nightgown over her shoulder where it had fallen during her nightmare. "Fool." She whispered to herself, slipping from the bed and walking to her balcony, where a cool France breeze was waiting to refresh her.

The nightmares were getting worse, as were her headaches. She would have chalked it up to annoyance at her sisters continued dalliance with the Prince, but in her heart she knew it was more serious. The relaxation of Europe had been her doctors prescription, but she could see it was his way of putting off his annoyance at not knowing a solution for her misery. A tumor, the specialist from Germany had said. Something pressing in her head against her brain and eye. Her mother had forced her to see the doctor before she left, annoyed at her refusing to get up for supper. The light was worse than anything, those last days at home and her mother's harping did little to soothe the ache. Not that her mother knew. Alice hadn't told anyone, had kept this pain secret, as she always did. The odd of her making it home alive were... low, or so the doctor told her, and she hadn't wanted to spoil the days or be forbidden to go.

No, if she was to die, she was glad it would be here, in France where it was warm and beautiful and she could hear life around her, rather than the stodgy fall of the Welsh countryside. Another pain hit her and she stumbled to the vanity, where her hands scrambled for the pain tonic the doctor had given her in bulk. "To make you more comfortable." She took a gulp and collapsed, allowing it to wash over her.

Tonic. She rolled the glass bottle in her hand. Poison. That's what it was, really. A poison that would kill her slowly, until she was dulled so much that it no longer mattered that her brain was slowly rotting inside her head. She held it up in the faint light, watching the amber liquid shimmer inside. Perhaps... maybe it would best.

Temporarily restored she stood, grabbing the pen and parchment closest to her. She'd make a list for the boy downstairs. If she could just get all the ingredients right... and this was France, surely they had all nature of dangerous things.

Her days in the chemistry building, whiling away time while her father worked may not have been as useless as she thought.

...Once Upon a Time...

Storybrook, Present

Garrett Evans did not like animals. It wasn't his fault really, he just didn't enjoy the jumping and licking that accompanied them. So why was it that had a sudden urge for a farm? Lately he felt like every dream he had was about cows, which was strange because he'd never even seen a cow. Right?

He couldn't remember ever having seen one, up close, alive but when he slept he could feel it, warm and hard, yet soft and strangely comforting under his hand.

And that was the other thing- the sleeping.

He was always tired lately. Always just on the edge of dozing off or once even really falling asleep in his history book. Ms. Mary Margaret had made him go to the quiet corner for that, like he was one of the babies in first grade and then made him stay after to make sure everything was okay. And it was- he was just tired. All the time.

"Garrett!" His mother called up the stairs. "Time for your lessons honey!" He groaned and rolled out of bed, where he'd been napping. It was with disgust that he grabbed the small case next to his desk. He hated music lessons and especially hated the trumpet. It was a stupid instrument. Everyone else got to play cool instruments like the guitar or the drums- but no, he was stuck with his dad's old trumpet. He pounded down the stairs sulkily, practically throwing himself down on the last step to wait for his mom to put her coat on and open the door. He leaned against the banister, intending to get a few minutes of a nap in when his mom clucked at him. "Make sure you have everything Garrett- I'm not going to come back to this house if you forgot your mouthpiece again."

Rolling his eyes Garrett opened the case, sure everything was there- he hadn't bothered to practice so everything would be in its place. His fingers ghosted over the tarnished brass of the instrument. And Bo, more widely known as Little Boy Blue, yanked his hand back, gasping as his head was flooded with images. "Ready?" A voice above him questioned.

He glanced up into the strangers eyes and smiled. "I'm always ready to play my horn."

...Once Upon a Time...

Across town, Alexandria was getting frustrated. The pie she'd been trying to make for her parents was turning out just as awful as the last three. She hadn't seen the couple in years, but she was sure, she just knew, that if she could bake this pie then they would come home, come back to her and her grandfather, and leave Boston forever.

She could barely remember their faces, but she was as sure of them as she was of her friends or her bike or the blue sky outside. "ребёнок." Her grandfather called into their large house, coming home from work as loudly as ever. "I home now!" She smiled at him as he walked into the kitchen, requesting he turn on the oven. She was never allowed to touch to stove unless he was home and honestly, she preferred it that way. She always felt safer when his large presence filled the empty house.

Her grandfather was a bear of a man, broad and dark haired, with a large beard that tickled when he kissed her cheek. He had an accent that was so thick most of the town couldn't understand him, and even Alexandria sometimes had trouble with the Russian he sometimes spouted. He patted her on the head as he slipped the pie into the oven, promising to return in an hour to remove it. "When I come back we'll have a little seat and a pie to eat." He teased her, before trudging from the room.

Mashenka sat frozen, hand on her rolling pin as she stared after him. "I see you." She whispered.

When her grandfather returned she was still sitting there, gazing out into space. "Ребёнок?" He questioned.

"Oh I'm fine my bear." She smiled up at him. "I'm fine now."

...Once Upon a Time...

Our World, Marseilles, France, 1872

Two days later Alice was sitting under a tree in her favorite park, lazily watching the day pass her by. "A fine day Dinah." She commented to the stray cat who'd taken residence in the sun beside her. "Do you like that? Dinah? I've never had a pet- we had a nanny who was called that- I've always felt she had a very feline way about her."

Alice pulled the tonic from her dress pocket and laid it on the blue material. It most likely wouldn't work, but she was determined to try something. He head had been worse than ever, the pressure building in waves of pain. She uncorked the bottle and raised it to her lips silently toasting the cat that gazed on her condescendingly. Someone stumbled through the bushes, an older man in a rumpled coat. "Oh I am sorry! I was just looking for a bean. I don't suppose you- Alice!"

The woman was so startled she accidently inhaled some of her potion, choking as she tried to swallow and stand. "Dobson! Is it really you?"

She rushed forward to hug him, but lately her coordination was terrible and she ended up almost running into him. Funny man that he was, he grabbed her and then quickly let her go, propping her up against a tree. Her old friend stared at her in wonder and anxiety. "Alice it is you? Have you been drinking my dear? That poison is terrible for you, you know."

"Poison?" She chuckled. "Believe me, my wonderful story man, my own body will turn on me quicker than spirits."

"Alice." Dobson reached out, nose twitching, white hair tufting up in the wind. "What's wrong?"

"I'm dying. I've decided to kill myself- but I'm dying from an illness of the brain all the same." She glanced down to avoid his pity. "Oh look! Is this your bean?" She bent to pick up the strange looking seed at her feet. But as she did, the potion and her head both seemed to rebel and she fell, spilling the rest of her concoction on the ground.

And the bean.

"Oh dear," she said faintly, "I've ruined it all again haven't I?" She glanced up, but Dobson was backing away, nose twitching once more, fear on his face. "Dobson?" She cried out, feeling the ground shift beneath her.

"Remember the stories!" She heard him cry. "Remember Alice! It's the only way to return!"

And then she was falling. And then she was flying. And then she hit the ground.

And it was black.

AN: So yea, I gave Alice a brain tumor- betcha didn't see that coming! But it's going to allow for lots of nice angst with Jefferson and Grace as well as explain a few other things I have planned. Alice Lidwell's father did work at a university but I have no idea if she spent time in the chemistry department- I'd say no considering that she was a girl and it was the 1800s, but let's take some creative license and say she was plucky and was spying on them. Also, in the early 1900s doctors and pharmacists did literally give people poison and drugs to make them feel better- I have a disturbing amount of cyanide in my attic from my grandfathers pharmacy.

Mashenka and the Bear is a Russian fairytale about a girl whose stolen away from her family by a lonely bear. Ребёнок means child in Russian.

Little Boy Blue is not officially Bo but I've heard versions where that's his name... So squeal! Other kids are remembering!


End file.
